Grilled Squid (Calamari) Istrian Recipe

Tender and succulent, grilled or pan-fried squid can be enjoyed all year round, but it is particularly popular during the hot weather, it is light and fresh and makes a perfect summer meal.

This classic Mediterranean dish can be served as an appetizer or part of a main dish, and it is incredibly easy and fast to make.

Some people are put off and maybe a bit reluctant cooking with squid maybe as a result of experiencing chewy and rubbery tasting squid.

For the squid to be tender it needs to be cooked very fast for only a few minutes or slow cooked, at least 30 minutes, and seasoned with sea salt at the very end.

Observe these two tricks and successful end result is guaranteed. For a very tender squid I have been suggested to soak the squid in milk prior cooking (I have not tried this yet).

This dish is very popular along the Slovenian coast and can be found on menus in just about any type of restaurant. Locals refer to this dish as Kalamari na žaru or called Lignji na žaru in standard Slovenian.

It is traditionally served with a simple garlic, parsley and olive oil sauce referred to by the locals as Tržaska omaka (Trieste sauce, Triestine sauce or salsa Triestina).

I am sharing here the family recipe for this seriously delicious grilled squid, after you try it, you will be checking out the fish counter for fresh squid a bit more often!

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main with a side dish

• 1kg fresh squid, tubes and tentacles, cleaned (if daunted by the task of cleaning the squid yourself ask your fishmonger to do it for you). Alternatively you can use store bought already cleaned frozen squid, make sure it is defrosted safely before using.

• extra virgin olive oil, a generous drizzle

• sea salt

• black pepper, optional

• 1 lemon, cut in wedges to serve, optional

• For the sauce, optional

• 1 handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (about 10g) washed, dried and very finely chopped

• 2 cloves of garlic or to taste, very finely chopped, as finely as you can

• 3-5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

Rinse well already cleaned squid under cold running water (make sure you rinse the inside of the tubes as well).

Dry well with kitchen paper and place in a dish, plate or bowl. Add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, toss the squid and leave to rest for about 15 minutes. Set aside.

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While the squid is marinating in olive oil make the sauce if using. Place very finely chopped garlic and parsley in a small bowl and add extra virgin olive oil, mix well and set aside until needed. The quantities for this simple sauce in this recipe are approximate and you can adjust it and tweak it to your liking. Add more garlic if you wish, omit garlic altogether if not keen having raw garlic in the sauce, add more oil etc.

Take a griddle or regular non stick pan and heat very well.

When is very hot place the squid tubes and tentacles in a pan and cook for about 5 minutes, two and a half minutes on each side.

If you see the squid is drying out a bit just drizzle or brush a bit more olive oil.Season with sea salt at the very end.

Place the little bowl with garlic, parsley and olive oil sauce on the table, so everyone can spoon a bit of sauce on top of grilled squid if desired, and lemon wedges.

Serve grilled squid with boiled potatoes, chard with potatoes, chips or simply with some rustic bread. You can also serve it on a bed of rocket and make it into a main seafood salad dish.

Just a thought

The sauce should always be offered separately for everyone to be given a choice to spoon it over grilled squid if desired.

If you are left over with the sauce, you can spoon it on other types of grilled or pan-fried fish, great on grilled scallops and other sea food like prawns or langoustines.

Although not part of local costume this sauce can be spooned over grilled meat or pizza.

Steamed and Marinated Prawns Istrian style Recipe

This uncomplicated dish with its delicate flavour consists of quickly boiling, chilling and dressing the prawn tails with a simple dressing. This dressing is made with olive oil, finely chopped parsley, finely chopped garlic (optional), freshly squeezed lemon juice and seasoned with sea salt. Black pepper can also be added if desired.

It is perfect to make ahead of time and enjoyed as a starter or as a second course.

Traditionally, this recipe would call for Mantis shrimps (from Latin Squilla Mantis) which is a type of mantis shrimp, fished in the shallow sandy lagoons of the northern Adriatic and Mediterranean during colder months of the year. They represent a real seasonal treat and a type of seafood not typically seen anywhere else. This particular variety of shrimp is also widely used to make risotti, it is delicious in fish stew, and used to prepare pasta sauce.

This seafood delicacy is very much valued and appreciated along the north Adriatic coast from Venice to Trieste in Italy, in nearby inland towns, and along the Slovenian coast, where Mantis Shrimp is known as morska bogomolka or morska bogomoljka or in local dialect as kanoče (strong influence from nearby Venice, where these types of shrimp are referred to as canoce, also spelt canocce).

In Italy, this particular type of shrimp has many names, in standard Italian it is called Cannocchia, pannochia or cicala di mare, which literally translates into cicada of the sea.

I am sharing here the family recipe for this simple dish that can be prepared ahead of time and be ready when you are. Enjoy it with some rustic bread to soak up the juices.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 500g prawns

For the dressing

• 5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)

• a small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (about 3g), finely chopped

• small clove of garlic, peeled and very finely chopped, optional

• lemon juice, to taste, optional

• sea salt

• finely ground black pepper, optional

Method

Wash the prawns (or mantis shrimp, if you can get hold of them) under the cold running water.

Place them in a fairly large, shallow pot lying side by side, preferably in a single layer.

Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.

Add a pinch of sea salt and bring to boil, then turn the heat down.

Cover with the lid and cook for about 3 minutes, or until the prawns turn pink in colour.

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Remove from the pot and let them cool a bit, i.e. enough to handle them.

Remove the tails from the shell.

Place cleaned prawn tails in a serving dish in a single layer.

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Prepare the dressing by putting in a small bowl finely chopped garlic (if using), fresh flat leaf parsley, extra virgin olive oil, a squeeze of half of lemon juice or to taste, sea salt to taste and finely ground black pepper to taste (optional).

Mix well so all the ingredients incorporate well.

Spoon over the cooked prawn tails and serve immediately with some fresh crunchy bread and some lemon wedges (optional).

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If made in advance, cover with the cling film and put in the fridge.

Take out of the fridge half an hour before serving and add a little more extra virgin olive oil if needed, sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley.

Serve with some bread to soak up the juices.

Crispy Fried Squid (Calamari) Recipe

This incredibly popular dish is a real crowd pleaser and will be the talk of the table. It can be served as a starter or as a main course and makes a great party food as its taste is pretty extraordinary.

With a few simple steps and a tiny bit of effort you can tackle this simple and quick recipe at home and end up with crispy calamari to delight your friends and family. There is nothing daunting and tricky about it.

Squid flourish in the Mediterranean and Adriatic sea where for the locals fried calamari are equivalent to British concept of “Fish and Chips”.

Along the Slovenian coast, this dish can be found on the menu in just about every restaurant (Ocvrti lignji or Ocvrti kalamari). It is served with chips and mayonnaise or tartar sauce or a traditional Istrian vegetable side dish made with spinach or chard and potatoes. During hotter months a mixed summer salad could be a great alternative to accompany this exquisite dish.

It is enjoyed as part of everyday meal or as a seafood feast during festivities, very popular on Christmas Eve when traditionally fish and seafood-based menu is served according to the tradition that originates from the Roman Catholic practice of not eating meat on Fridays.

Fried squid can be served on their own or with whitebait or other small fish, prawn tails or shrimp.

I am sharing here my mother's recipe how to make the best crispy calamari!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• about 800g squid, tubes and tentacles, cleaned

• 250-500g plain white flour

• vegetable oil, for frying

• sea salt

• 2 lemons, quartered, to serve

Method

Prepare and clean the squid.

Remove from the squid tube the head, backbone and innards, and separate the tentacles.

(If you are uncomfortable with this task, ask the fishmonger to clean the squid for you).

Wash thoroughly under the cold running water.

Pat squid dry with the kitchen paper.

Cut the squid pouches into rings, roughly about 5mm.

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Put enough oil in a saucepan to come halfway up the pan.

Place on a medium heat and heat the oil for deep-frying to 190°C, if using a thermometer.

(if not using a thermometer, one way to check that the oil is at the right temperature is to drop a small cube of bread into the hot oil, it should become crispy and golden in 1minute)

While the oil is heating, put the flour into a shallow dish, bowl or a plate.

Coat lightly the squid in flour (work in small batches).

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Transfer them into a sieve and gently shake off the excess.

Carefully drop into the hot oil.

Fry in batches (and do not overload the pan) for about 2 minutes or until the squid becomes golden in colour

(dropping bigger batches of floured squid in hot oil can bring the temperature of oil down, the squid will be “cooking and steaming” in oil rather than frying and potentially compromising its crunchiness).

Remove the squid from the pan with a slotted spoon.

Place on the kitchen paper to absorb excess oil and drain.

Sprinkle with sea salt to taste.

Serve with lemon quarters.

Serve as a starter or as a main dish with mayonnaise, garlic mayonnaise, tartar sauce, salad or chips and chard or spinach with potatoes Istrian style.

Mackerel in a Pan with Olive oil, Lemon juice and Fresh parsley Recipe

Mackerel, or any other type of fish, cooked in a pan with olive oil, fresh parsley, lemon juice and a splash of water is probably the simplest fish-based recipe, and it is absolutely perfect for all of those who are slightly intimidated and generally not too confident cooking with fish.

It is a no-fuss dish and a great choice for a quick and uncomplicated rustic lunch or dinner, it is very nutritious and healthy as it contains beneficial fats (omega-3 fatty acids).

This dish is of Venetian influence and the success of it lies in seasoning well the fish and using the freshest and best quality ingredients you can find and afford to buy.

Mackerel is an inexpensive, affordable, massively underrated fish, and far too often overlooked by the shoppers, maybe perhaps it is an oily fish that carries a slightly stronger and distinctive flavours compared to some other fish.

In this one pan recipe the fresh and citrusy ingredients like parsley and lemon juice, cut through the richness, “oiliness” and “fishiness” of the mackerel, and when combined with the juices released from the fish during the cooking process. This combination of the flavours produces the most stunning plate of food.

I am sharing here this very simple family recipe, which is an absolute winner. Fish cooked this way has been prepared and loved in my family for generations using different types of fish depending on what was found fresh in the fish market on the day.

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1kg fresh mackerel, gutted, cleaned, washed, and dried (the fishmonger will be happy to do this for you, alternatively you can use the fillets).

  For this recipe you can easily replace mackerel for other types of fish or fillets of your choice like sea bream, sea bass, sardines, trout, and monkfish to name just a few.

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (about10g, plus some extra for serving), finely chopped

• lemon juice of ½ lemon or to taste

• sea salt

• black pepper

Method

Season the outside and the inside (the cavity) of the mackerel with sea salt.

Put the olive oil in a pan (big enough to accommodate the mackerel).

Place the whole fish or the fillets in a pan in a single layer.

Sprinkle with fresh parsley, add the lemon juice, a splash of water and black pepper to taste (optional).

Cover with the lid and cook the fish on a gentle heat for about 25 minutes (if using the fillets cooking time will reduce to about 15 minutes).

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To serve, lay the whole mackerel, or the fillets, on a plate and pour the juices they have released during the cooking process, over them.

Best enjoyed warm with some crunchy rustic bread, boiled potatoes, cooked rice, grilled polenta, and a side salad of your choice.

Wine suggestion

Venezia Giulia Bianco Sivi IGT 2018 - Dario Princic

Sea Bass Risotto Istrian Recipe

Sea bass risotto is light, creamy and flavoursome, it is made with very simple and delicate in flavour ingredients.

This dish is a true testimony to honest and uncomplicated cooking. It might not be the most colourful dish, it is modest, and humble in its appearance, but it most surely delivers in flavour. It will delight all the generations around the dinner table and will be enjoyed by the most reluctant fish eaters due to its very mild “fishy taste”.

This Venetian inspired risotto is made with fresh sea bass, a very much appreciated fish. It is one that is considered to be a real delicacy, and is very often represented in the antique mosaics by the Romans. A good quality fish stock is pretty much essential to the success of this risotto. Home made fish stock is very easy and quick to make, it is fresh, resourceful, sustainable and incredibly satisfying and economical since you are using up every part of the fish.

What are the origins of this type of risotto? The fishermen sold the precious filets of fish in the market, and so to provide for their families, they used the left-over bones and heads, which they cooked to form the most delicious stock that was then used for cooking this type of risotto.

Venetian style risotto is very popular along the Slovenian coast, where I come from, an area once part of ‘La Serenissima,’ the Most Serene Republic of Venice. Sea bass or sea bream risotto is found in most good fish restaurants and cooked in local households on a regular basis.

I am sharing here my family's recipe for this rustic fish based risotto, that can equally, and proudly sit on elegant plates during a more formal dining setting.

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

Fish Stock

• 500g roughly, sea bass or sea bream (1 big fish or two smaller in size) washed, cleaned, gutted and scaled (fishmonger will be happy to do this for you)

  You can use other type of sustainable white fish like hake, pollack, and flat fish, avoid oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, and tuna, as they are too fatty and will make your stock greasy and unpleasant.

  You can make the stock using just the bones, again only from the white fish. You will need about 1kg of these, the fishmonger will sell them very cheaply or even given for free.

• 1 small bay leaf or ½ of big one (fresh or dry)

• a few whole black peppercorns (about 6)

• 1 clove of garlic, peeled

• 1 carrot (about 40g), peeled

• stick of celery (about 40g)

• 1 shallot or a piece of anion (about 40g)

• small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, washed

• extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle

• sea salt

Risotto

• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 shallot or onion (about 40g), peeled and finely chopped

• 300g risotto rice (like Vialone Nano, Arborio, Carnaroli)

• fish chunks removed from previously cooked sea bass or sea bream

• 1 litre of hot fish stock

• knob of butter

• handful of freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, optionala

• small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley (about 4g), finely chopped

Method

Fish Stock

Start by preparing the fish stock.

Place the fish in a pan, big enough to accommodate the fish lying flat (if using 2 fishes lie them next to each other or one on top of the other).

Add a few black whole peppercorns, clove of garlic, bay leaf, a generous pinch of sea salt and about 1.5 litres of cold water.

Bring to boil, turn down the heat, cover with the lid, and gently cook the fish for about 10-15 minutes.

When almost cooked, remove from the water, place on a big plate and allow to cool a bit.

When cool enough to handle, remove the skin and the fish meat from the bones in medium size chunks, put them in the bowl, cover so the fish pieces do not dry, and set aside for later use.

Put the head and the bones back in the pot, in the same water in which the fish was cooked.Add a carrot, celery stick, shallot or onion, fresh flat leaf parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Cover with the lid and gently simmer for about 30 minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

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Place the fine sieve over a saucepan and pass the stock through a sieve. Discard the head, bones and cooked down vegetables.

Put the saucepan with the stock back on the stove, on a very minimum heat, put the lid on and keep it warm and ready to hand for later use.

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Risotto

Place the oil in a pan and gently sauté chopped shallots or onions until soft.

Add the risotto rice and toast a bit, stirring constantly to avoid sticking to the pan.

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Add the fragments of sea bass or sea bream.

Start gradually adding ladles of hot fish stock, one at a time, allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding more.

There should always be enough liquid just to cover the risotto.

Cook on a medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is cooked al dente, meaning fully cooked but still a bit firm when bitten.

Removing from the stove, add a knob of cold butter and a handful of freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese and finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley. Stir with a wooden spoon, quite vigorously, in order to develop its delicious creamy texture.

The risotto should be smooth and runny enough to be described by the Italians as risotto all'onda, meaning risotto on the wave.

Serve immediately while the risotto is still hot.

Just a thought

To cut the corners, you can make this risotto by using fresh sea bass or sea bream fillets and using a high quality store bought fish stock.

Sea bass risotto will keep in the fridge for a couple of days in an airtight container.

It can be enjoyed at room temperature as well, and is not suitable for freezing.

Wine Suggestion

Soave Classico DOC "Calvarino" 2020 - Pieropan

Golden Prawn Tails Istrian Recipe

This dish is a real seafood delicacy, and a real treat, made with prawns or langoustines tails, which are sweet, delicious, and cook in minutes. Tails are coated in flour and egg, and then very briefly deep fried until golden, this a one of the top crowd pleaser dishes, never seems to be enough of them to go around.

Golden prawn or langoustine tails are easy and quick to prepare, a perfect warm starter, makes the best finger food for any party or celebration, and works well as a main course too.

Back home, on the Slovenian coast, this dish is traditionally made with precious and expensive langoustine tails, rather than prawns, it is therefore a celebratory dish enjoyed during the festivities and to mark special occasion, it is more like a restaurant meal treat, a favourite of mine when I was a child. You will find this dish in seafood restaurants, škampi na pariški način, which literally translates to langoustines “Parisian style”. My extensive research brought me no answers as to why the name of this dish is called what is, and so if anyone is reading this blog and knows the answer I would love to hear it!

Golden langoustine tails is most definitely one of the top family favourites, and here I am sharing my mother's recipe.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 700g roughly, prawn or langoustine tails (can use frozen and previously defrosted)

  If you are buying fresh whole prawns or langoustines, you will need around 1200g (they need to be cleaned, peeled and deveined).

• 100-150g plain white flour, for coating

• 1-2 eggs, lightly beaten

• sea salt

• black pepper

• oil for frying

• juice from ½ - 1 lemon, optional

• some fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped, optional

Method

Tap dry you prepared prawn or langoustine tails with kitchen paper or clean kitchen towel.

Place the flour in a bowl or shallow plate.

Crack the eggs into a bowl or shallow dish, add a pinch of sea salt and whisk gently.

Coat prawn tails in the flour and shake off the excess.

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Dip in egg mixture, turn to coat, letting excess egg drip back into the bowl before putting it into oil.

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Lower coated prawn tails into a hot oil and fry briefly until fully cooked through and golden brown in colour. That's it!

With a slotted spoon, transfer fried tails onto a plate or a dish previously lined with kitchen paper to allow excess oil to be absorbed.

Remove the kitchen paper and place your golden prawn tails onto a plate or serving dish.

Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and roughly chopped fresh flat leaf parsley, and if you wish to add some freshness to the dish, give them a squeeze of lemon juice.

Best served hot immediately with some mayonnaise or tartar sauce.

Sea Bream broth Istrian Recipe

This clear fish broth is very light and has a very pleasant, delicate and mild fish flavour, it is very nutritious and incredibly easy to make as it consists of cooking fresh whole fish in plenty of water together with the onions, celery, bay leaves, parsley, carrots, black peppercorns and seasoned with sea salt, then strained and served hot with fillets of fish and some cooked white rice if desired.

This fish broth can be as rustic or as elegant and sophisticated as you want it to be, it is a very family friendly dish and perfect for any occasion.

It would be normally eaten as a hot starter, however, you can turn this clear soup into a bit more substantial main course by cooking some white rice separately and add it into a broth, and sprinkle some freshly grated Parmiggiano Reggiano (or Padano) cheese on top, which is a very customary thing to do along the Slovenian coast, where this type of soup is very much loved by the locals, cooked recurrently in the households and found on menus in fish restaurants (Ribja juha).

This type of broth would be most commonly cooked using fresh whole Sea bream or Sea bass, but other type of fish can be used like Red mullet, John Dory, Small red scorpionfish and similar fish that have a delicate flavour, and you can also mix and match the fish that you like and found available fresh when deciding to cook the broth.

Fish that is quite strong in taste and quite oily, like mackerel, for example, is not the best choice for the broth, also fish fillets are not particularly recommended (although you can use them for practical reasons) as they will give you a slightly blander tasting broth, and that is because the real flavour comes out of the heads and the bones of the fish.

Recipe for this broth is timeless, it has been cooked and loved by the whole family since I was very little and really does take me right back to my childhood when my family used to run a small fish based restaurant.

This type of fish broth would be cooked in large quantities as it is also a fantastic base to use for sauces and for fish and seafood risotto, as it adds bags of extra flavour.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• fresh whole sea bream, one big in size or a few smaller ones (total weight roughly between 400-600g), cleaned, scaled and gutted

• 1 medium onion, peeled and halved

• 1 medium carrot, peeled

• 1 fresh celery stick, washed (with or without the leaves on)

• 2 fresh bay leaves, fresh or dry

• 2 branches of fresh flat leaf parsley, washed (plus some extra when serving the dish)

• sea salt

• few black peppercorns

• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling, optional

• white rice, optional

• Parmiggiano Reggiano or Padano cheese, freshly grated, optional

Method

Place sea bream in a pan or stock pot large enough to accommodate the fish lying flat (if using more than one sea breams they can overlap a bit but avoid laying them one on top of the other).

Add onion, carrot, celery stick, bay leaves, fresh parsley and a pinch of salt.

Add 2 litres of cold water and bring to boil.

Lower the heat and gently cook for about 1 hour with the lid partially uncovered.

Check occasionally so the broth does not boil too vigorously (this can break the fish into pieces) and skim off any scum if it forms.

Cook the rice as instructed on the pack, if using to add to the broth (a small handful of rice per person).

Carefully remove the fish from the pan, the use of slotted or unslotted turner spatula on each end of the fish will help to lift the fish out of the pan and place it on a big plate or chopping board.

Allow the fish to cool a bit to a manageable temperature.

Clean sea bream by removing the tails, heads, the skin and all the bones in order to obtain small fillets of fish.

Put the fillets in a dish and cover with the aluminium foil to prevent drying and set aside for later use.

Pour the broth through a fine strainer or sieve into another pan.

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Add previously cleaned pieces of fish (small fillets) back into a pan with a filtered broth.

Discard bits and pieces caught in the strainer or in the sieve.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt.

Ladle the broth into serving soup plates or bowls, sprinkle with roughly chopped fresh parsley, drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, add a small handful of cooked rice if desired, and serve hot, immediately with some fresh crunchy bread.

Just a thought

Freshly cooked fish broth will keep in the fridge for a few days in the airtight container and is suitable for freezing.

You can cook this broth using only the heads and the bones of the fish and use the fillets for a different recipe or make a second course with them.

Wine suggestion

Vino Bianco "Turno Belo" - Movia

Squid Risotto Adriatic style Recipe

Squid or calamari risotto is very delicate in taste, yet flavoursome, hearty and filling, very quick and easy to make, which makes it a perfect choice for a light lunch or dinner and a staple mid-week dish.

Fresh squid (not cleaned yet)

This risotto is an absolute winner, it will delight the whole family, and it is very pleasant to eat with its creamy texture and sweet and tender squid. It is simply delicious, and it is packed with Mediterranean ingredients that recall holidays by the sea.

I grew up on this type of risotto, it has been made in my family since as long as I can remember. My mother told me I was partially weaned on this risotto, she obviously made sure the squid chunks were cut in miniscule pieces to make it safe for me to eat. I loved it, apparently, and I still do.

The frequency with which this risotto, among many other types of risotti, has been made should come as no surprise. The area where I was born and grew up, the Slovenian coast, it is just under two hours drive from northern region of Veneto in Italy, where the greatest number and variety of risotto recipes can be found.

Squid risotto is very often prepared and cooked in the households, and regularly printed on the menus in the local restaurants, where you will find it as Rižota s kalamari or Rižota z lignji.

I am sharing here my mother's recipe, and do not be put off by the task of cleaning the squid, ask your fishmonger to do it for you and try this fantastic risotto dish.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 500g roughly, fresh squid, cleaned and cut into smaller pieces or rings (keep the tentacles). For this recipe you can also use frozen raw already cleaned squid tubes available in most bigger supermarkets.

• 1 small onion (about 80g), peeled and finely chopped

• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 Tbsp tomato purée

• 300g risotto rice (like Vialone Nano, Arborio or Carnaroli)

• fresh flat leaf parsley, about a handful (roughly 8g), some extra for garnish

• 1 litre hot vegetable stock or hot water

• sea salt

• ground black pepper

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Method

Before starting making risotto, it is a good idea to have your boiling hot stock or hot water ready to hand for later.

Put extra virgin olive oil in a pan, add finely chopped onions and sauté on a gentle heat until soft.

Add crushed garlic and cook for about a minute together with the onions.

Place clean pieces of squid in a pan and cook for about three minutes or so, until opaque.

Add the rice, mix well with the onion, garlic and squid mixture, and toast it for few minutes stirring constantly to avoid sticking to the pan.

Add tomato purée, pour in the pan all the hot stock or hot water and add chopped parsley.

If you have made a risotto before and have a clear idea of how moist you like it to be, you can control the moisture of the risotto by gradually adding ladles of hot stock or water, one at a time, allowing the liquid to be absorbed before adding more, rather than pouring the whole quantity of liquid over toasted rice, like I did in this recipe.

Cook on a medium heat, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is cooked al dente (fully cooked but still firm when bitten). It will generally take about 15-18 minutes for a risotto to be cooked.

There should be enough liquid just to cover the risotto, the Italians say that risotto should be smooth and runny enough to be described as all'onda, on the wave. Quite right, eating dry risotto is not particularly enjoyable.

Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt and ground pepper.

Serve hot and garnish with roughly chopped fresh flat parsley.

Just a thought

You can add to the risotto a small amount of chilli to give it an extra kick, but in small amounts, as you do not want to overpower the delicate flavour of the squid and of the dish in general.

Wine suggestion

Colli di Luni Vermentino “Etichetta Nera” 2021 - Lunae

Venetian style Sardines in Savor (Marinated Fried Sardines)

Marinated sardines is a classic and quintessentially Venetian dish, where sardines are lightly fried and then marinated in onion and vinegar mixture. It is prepared and found on Venetian menus (Sarde in saòr) where typical humble dishes are served all year round The name of the dish comes from the Venetian word saòr, meaning sapore in standard Italian, which translates as flavour, and refers to the fact that the flavour of the marinated fish is elevated by the use of good quality wine vinegar.

This dish originated simply out of necessity, when the catch of the fish was particularly abundant and plentiful, people had to figure out how to preserve food to be able to eat it for days without going bad, as the refrigeration had not yet been invented.

This Venetian dish in origin is also very popular and became a staple dish along the coast of the Slovenian Istra, where local gastronomy was strongly shaped and influenced by the Venetian cuisine, and this is of no surprise, as this land was once part of The Republic of Venice who “left behind” the recipe for marinated sardines and enriched the food habits of the locals, who refer to this dish as Sardele in savor (Sardele na šavor in standard Slovenian) and serve it as a cold starter or sometimes as main. It is made all year round but particularly pleasant to eat cold during the hot summer months due to its refreshing taste.

Unlike the Venetian variety of this dish, Istrian marinated sardines do not include the use of pine nuts or raisins, testimony to the introduction of expensive and unusual ingredients in noble Venice due to a its strong trading activity with the East.

More humble and poorer Istrian variation, to offer extra flavour to this dish, introduced the use of fresh parsley and Mediterranean herbs like rosemary and bay leaves growing in abundance along the coast, instead of pine nuts and raisins, difficult to find and expensive, and therefore out of reach for most households. This variation also introduced the use of red wine vinegar, home made and produced in most households, instead of white wine vinegar, type of vinegar solely used in Venetian recipe.

This dish is customarily made with sardines (small ones are particularly suitable) but can be made with other types of fish like sprats, called papaline (Venetian word) by the locals and mackerel being most popular and most common alternative to sardines, and fillets of more prestigious fish like sea bream and sea bass can also be considered.

Once, this was food for the poor, nowadays is a delicacy and a speciality very much appreciated for their unique flavour and highly valued for nutritional content, especially in Slovenian Istra, where, unlike in Venice, this dish, although very traditional in the area, is not easily available in the restaurants, but almost exclusively made in the households.

My nona told me a lovely story, when she was only twenty two years old and got married she moved into the house, where she still currently lives, not very far away from the sea, and during the hot summer nights, the windows would be kept wide open in the hope to get some fresh breeze from the sea to cool the bedrooms to make it easier to sleep.

She could very clearly hear, in the middle of the night, the sound of very small fishing boats leaving the port and going out in the open sea to fish, this is the sound that she remembers as a very special and nostalgic one, and this is because she can no longer hear these sounds, as the majority of those small boats were replaced by only few commercial bigger fishing boats. These days they struggle for a few big catches since over the years the the sea has been depleted of fish. Sadly, fishing has become very difficult and complicated, and so is not very appealing to the younger generations.

I am sharing here my nona's recipe, this is the dish she grew up with, and the one she recalls was also made by her grandmother. This is a traditional, local and authentic family recipe for Istrian style marinated sardines. However, if you wish to “jazz up” this recipe a bit, and make it more “noble” and Venetian, you can add 50g of pine nuts and 50g raisins (previously soaked in lukewarm water for few minutes to help them become more plump).

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

• 1 kg very fresh sardines, cleaned (scaled, gutted, heads and central bone removed and butterflied)

  (ask fishmonger to prepare them for you if uncomfortable with the task)

• all purpose flour (quantity enough to flour the sardines)

• 400 ml frying oil

• 5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 500 g onions, peeled and thinly sliced

• 5 whole black peppercorns

• 1 Tbsp white dry breadcrumbs

• 100 ml white or red wine vinegar

• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dry

• 1 small fresh rosemary spring

• very generous pinch of fresh flat leaf parsley (about 2g), finely chopped

• sea salt

Method

Cut the heads of the sardines, gut them and remove the central bone. Butterfly the sardines, rinse them well under cold running water and pat dry thoroughly with the kitchen paper.

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Coat them in flour and shake off flour in excess.

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Place frying oil in a frying pan, heat it up and fry gently and quickly the sardines, 2 minutes on each side is sufficient. They should have a light, not very crunchy, coating coating.

Drain well on a kitchen paper.

Season well with sea salt and set aside.

Peel the onions and slice them thinly.

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In a separate frying pan, ideally non stick, put extra virgin olive oil and heat a bit.

Add the onions and cook them on a very gentle heat until they become very soft and translucent, stirring often to avoid getting too brown.

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Add black peppercorns, breadcrumbs, bay leaf, small fresh rosemary spring, finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley.

Pour in wine vinegar and enough water to completely cover the onion mixture.

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Cook the onion and vinegar mixture on a gentle heat for about 20 minutes. The sauce should slightly thicken and reduce a little, but you should still be left with quite a bit of liquid.

If too much liquid has evaporated during the cooking add a bit more water.

Take a serving dish and alternate layers of onions in the vinegar mix and fried sardines.

Repeat the process of layering until the dish is full. The number of layers will depend on the size of your serving dish but the last layer should be onion and vinegar mix.

If you are left with a bit of vinegary liquid from the onion mixture just pour it over the layers.

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Place the dish in a fridge or a cool place for at least 24 hours or a couple of days, so the sardines marinate well and absorb all the flavours.

The longer you leave to marinate the better it will taste, but bare in mind that the fish will keep for up to a week.

Wine Suggestion

Collio Sauvignon Doc 2020 Draga

Creamed salted cod (or stockfish) Recipe

Venetian in origin, this light and creamy, almost mousse like spread, it is one of the most loved dishes, due to its very mild fishy flavour and no bones to worry about, and so it covers the whole family from the youngest children to the oldest members.

Spread on fresh or toasted slices of bread or it can be eaten with polenta, and it is a very convenient dish since it is served cold and it is prepared in advance. Creamed salted cod is rustic but it can soon turn into very elegant canapé served with a pre dinner drink.

I think that this recipe is one of the greatest recipes ever invented! Quite frankly, it takes a bit of a genius to turn an uneatable dry stockfish, which looks utterly unappealing, and is as dry as a plank of wood, into the most luxurious and delicious dishes ever created.

Venetian creamed cod, known in Italy as Baccalà mantecato, is a real speciality and a staple dish in Venice, where it was created, and it is very much appreciated and well known in the rest of Italy. Slightly less known however in the rest of the world, creamed salted cod certainly deserves greater international praise and renown.

This dish is one of my absolute top favourites, one of those dishes I am most grateful to the Venetians to have brought with them during the time they ruled my homeland in the North Adriatic, period during which dried stockfish was first introduced in Istria in 15th century from Venetian cuisine.

In Slovenian it is called Bakala na belo or Polenovka na belo or simply called by the locals Bakala or Bakalar.

My paternal grandfather, or my nono as I called him, used to always buy stockfish at the beginning of December, I have this image in my head of the dry long stockfish sticking heavily out of the shopping bag, I knew very well that it was the start of the Christmas festivities.

This recipe is a real classic holiday and festive dish in Slovenian Istra, and holds a very special place among the locals. Dried stockfish was once a food for the poor but nowadays is a staple dish and considered a delicacy, taking central stage on household tables during Christmas and Easter as it is cooked on holy days during the fasting time and not eating meat.

Traditionally, creamed stockfish is home made and served as part of Christmas Eve dinner, together with sautéed Savoy cabbage and polenta, and Istrian fritole (small fried doughnuts), of course.

These days you can find creamed stockfish on the supermarket shelves all year round, and especially during the holiday season and Easter, but unfortunately, the sad reality is, that very often, the quality of commercially produced cod spread leaves much to be desired, as very common practice is to add lard or potatoes to increase the weight

I have very vivid memories about the process of soaking the stockfish, this huge restaurant size pot was left outside in the back garden during the night and when the temperatures plummeted below 0, the ice formed on the top, and I just loved finding the sheet of ice the following morning, and braking it into pieces. My son does the same...what is it with the children and the ice, and love for breaking it ...

My son Jakob (age 9) with his gran grandmother (age91) making creamed stockfish with the help of a standard mixer

My nono was in charge of stockfish, year, after year, after year, until he sadly passed away, then my father took over and now it is down to myself, my brother, my husband, and the children, since my father sadly is longer around. Back home, according to tradition, stockfish and the preparation of it is still a male affair, however, maybe it is time for this to change!

My nono would sit on the chair, place a big pot containing pieces of cooked cod between the legs, a bottle of olive oil would be kept very close to him for an easy and frequent reach and as tradition requests, the cooked cod would then be beaten with big and long wooden flat spoon like, known locally as polentar or bat which resembles very much a cricket bat, but in my research I have found no connection between the two types of bats!

In honour of my family but in particular in honour of my nono and my father I am sharing here this very special generational family recipe. Give it a go, you will love it!

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 500g salted cod or 1 dry stockfish

• 170ml extra virgin olive oil (the very best you can afford) plus a bit of extra as needed

• 1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled

• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dry

• fresh flat leaf parsley (about 7g) finely chopped, optional

• sea salt, to taste

Method

For this recipe you can use either salted cod or dry stockfish, both need to be soaked and rehydrated first.

If you are using salted cod (I used this type for the recipe) first you need to rinse well the salted cod under very cold running water and soak it. Place rinsed cod in an airtight container, fill it completely with freezing cold water, and with some ice, if you have it, so the fillets are completely submerged. Close the lid and put the container in the fridge. Change the water after 24 hours and place in the fridge for another day. After 48 hours, the cod will be completely soaked. Remove the cod from the container, rinse well with cold water and cut the fillet/s into portion size.

Place pre-soaked pieces of cod in a pan and fill it with plenty of cold water so the pieces of fish are completely submerged in the water. Add bay leaf and bring to boil.

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Turn the heat down and cook further on a gentle heat for about 20 to 30 minutes and skim the foam on the surface as needed.

After the fish is cooked drain in the colander.

As soon as it is cool enough to handle carefully remove the skin and the odd bone.

With your fingers break the flesh into smaller pieces and place them in a pan or in a bowl of a standard mixer if you are using one.

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If using a whole dried stockfish, this needs to be soaked and rehydrated first. Place the whole stockfish in a big stock pot and fill completely with cold water and soak for 2-3 days, changing the water every day. If you do not have a very big pot to fit the whole stockfish in, you can use a smaller pot, like a regular 5 litre stock pot, and then place the stockfish in a pot where half of it will probably stick out, and half will be submerged in the water. Soak the submerged part of stockfish for 24 hours and after this time the soaked part of the stockfish will get soft enough to bend, which will allow you to bend it in a such a way for the whole stockfish to be completely submerged into the water in order to get properly rehydrated. No need for rinsing as the dried stockfish is not salted.

Soaked and rehydrated cod needs then to be cooked. Place it in a stock pot, the same one you used for soaking, fill it with plenty of cold water (the whole fish needs to be completely submerged), add bay leaf and bring to boil. Lower the heat and cook further on a gentle heat until the fish is tender, for about 1 hour or just over.

Drain the fish and as soon as is cold enough to handle carefully remove the skin and all the bones.

With your fingers break the flesh into smaller pieces and place them back into in big pan or into a bowl of a standard mixer if you are using one.

Whether you have decided to use salted cod or stockfish you are now left with cooked cleaned small pieces of cod in a big pan or in a bowl of a standard mixer, again only if you are using one.

Place 5 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a small frying pan, add the garlic previously peeled and cut in half lengthwise. Fry the garlic on a gentle heat until golden in colour to infuse the oil then discard the garlic.

Add garlic infused oil to the bowl.

Now the magic can begin.

Take a wooden spoon and start beating the pieces of fish quite vigorously. If using a standard mixer, put it on the lowest and slowest setting.

Keep beating and poring gradually the rest of the oil until you obtain a whitish paste and until the creamy mixture can no longer absorb any more oil.

This action of beating and adding very gradually small quantities of oil will eventually turn the pieces of cod into a light and fluffy cream, this process, in order to get the best result, can take up to 30 minutes.

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Add sea salt to your taste and very finely 1 chopped clove of garlic, although this optional, mix well, taste, and adjust the seasoning.

Transfer cod spread on a serving plate.

Serve it accompanied with slices of fresh rustic bread, toasted slices of bread (bruschetta) or slices of grilled yellow polenta.

Wine suggestion

Venezia Giulia Malvasia IGT 2019 - Skerk